Fibrous insulation is typically formed by fiberizing molten material and depositing the fibers on a collecting conveyor. Most, but not all fibrous insulation products contain a binder material to bond the fibers together, forming a lattice or network. The binder gives the insulation product resiliency for recovery after packaging, and provides stiffness and handleability so that the product can be handled and applied as needed in the insulation cavities of buildings. The fibrous insulation is cut into lengths to form insulation products, and the insulation products are packaged for shipping.
One typical insulation product is an insulation batt, usually 8 feet long, and generally suitable for use as wall insulation in residential dwellings, or as insulation in the attic and floor cavities in buildings. In many insulation applications a vapor barrier is needed on one side or face of the insulation to prevent moisture-laden air from the warm interior of the dwelling from entering the insulation. Otherwise, the water vapor in the warm interior air cools and condenses within the insulation, thereby creating a wet insulation product that can have difficulty performing at its designed efficiency. Vapor barriers are typically created with a layer of asphalt in conjunction with a kraft paper or foil facing. The vapor barrier can also be created by applying a film of moisture impervious material, such as a polyethylene film, to an entire wall containing unfaced insulation. In all cases the vapor barrier is positioned on the warm side, i.e., interior, of the insulation cavity. Also, the opposite major face of the insulation product must be vapor pervious to prevent water from being trapped within the insulation product.
In the past, insulation products have been manufactured with stapling flanges suitable for enabling the insulation installer to attach the insulation product to the studs for wall insulation or to the joists for ceiling insulation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,307,306 to Oliver and U.S. Pat. No. 3,729,879 to Franklin both disclose insulation products having flanges with an adhesive material to assist in attaching the insulation product to the studs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,133 to Berdan et al. discloses a ceiling insulation product having reinforced flanges for attachment to joists.
In a typical installation of fiberglass insulation into wall cavities, the insulation installer inserts the insulation batt into the wall cavity from the interior of the building, with the vapor barrier oriented toward or facing the installer. Typically, the insulation batt is provided with flanges to enable the installer to staple the batt to the studs. Consequently, typical wall cavity insulation has one side or major face having both a vapor barrier and attachment flanges. Where the installer is insulating the ceiling of a basement or a crawl space, the vapor barrier must be placed away from the installer. This makes it impossible to use the attachment flanges of the typical wall cavity insulation since the flanges are positioned deep within the ceiling cavity.
Recent advances in manufacturing insulation products have resulted in insulation materials that rely on encapsulation materials for containing and handling purposes, and do not require any binder material to bond the insulation fibers to each other. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,279 to Hall et al. the insulation material can be encapsulated in an in-line process. The primary use for such encapsulated insulation products is attic insulation since this type of insulation product is difficult to install in wall cavities or in underfloor ceiling cavities. Although attachment flanges could be added to the encapsulated insulation batts, this would not be economically practical.
It would be advantageous if there could be developed an insulation product or insulation assembly that could have attachment flanges created in an inexpensive manner. Further, it would be beneficial if there could be developed an insulation product that could be universally applied to either a wall cavity or a ceiling cavity.